It won’t happen again for 70,000 years. Thanksgiving 2013 has a special twist; Hanukkah begins on Thanksgiving this year, some are referring to this occasion as “Thanksgivukkah.” Naturally, Pandora curators have taken advantage of this once-in-an-eternity opportunity to commemorate these two popular family holidays, both of which focus on gratitude. What better way to celebrate and say thank you than with music?

We have two genre stations fitting for the occasion, both of which have been spiced up for 2013. Thanksgiving Day Radio can be your soundtrack during the day, whether you’re relaxing or cooking, and Hanukkah Radio can be the accompaniment to dinner.

As Pandora works to fulfill its mission to completely reinvent radio, we are always working on new ways to seamlessly deliver the best personalized radio experience in every possible listening environment.

Today, we’re excited to share that Pandora is now available on Chromecast, Google’s new TV-connected device that wirelessly delivers online audio and video entertainment to the biggest screen in the home.

Owners of Chromecast can now wirelessly stream or Cast Pandora directly to the TV, using their smartphone or tablet as the remote control. Core Pandora functionality, such as Play, Pause, Thumb and Skip are all easily controlled via your mobile device for a seamless listening experience. The Pandora experience is delivered directly from the cloud to your TV, so once you send your favorite station to your TV, your mobile device is no longer required to keep the music going. Read More →

Pandora now natively supports hundreds of different Android tablets and while we’ve long offered a mobile app for our Android listeners, Pandora 5.0 for Android optimizes the experience for larger tablet screen sizes and is built specifically with the tablet experience in mind. Features of Pandora 5.0 include enhanced playback and personalization, deeper music discovery and exploration, easy access to a personalized music profile and an easy way to connect and share music with friends. Read More →

It’s a familiar scene: lights low, popcorn in hand, you hear something; your heart begins to race, your brow sweats, you grip into the armrest of the plush theater seat. The knife-wielding psychopath finally bursts into the scene, accompanied by a dissonant musical crescendo.

While most film composers probably do not have a clinical understanding of the human brain, the great ones have figured out how to manipulate our most primitive fight or flight responses. Paired with just the right visuals certain sounds and pitch combinations can involuntarily cause us to experience physical reactions that one would expect in moments of real life stress. In the spirit of Halloween, we thought we’d take a look at some of the musical devices that are used in scary movies to elicit the fear response.

Mastering the art of suspense is the first key to creating a scary soundtrack. When used in the right context, music can create a psychological state of dread and set the listener up for the inevitable startle effect. Avoiding melody altogether, instead relying on long tones or using short, repetitive melodic fragments can lead the listener to feel anxious. John Williams‘ theme to Jaws, with its famous two note motif is a perfect example, as is the theme to the Halloween films, which features a looping, ten note pattern that keeps listeners in a state of anticipation. (A little horror movie trivia: John Carpenter, who directed the Halloween movies, also wrote the theme)

As Head of Music Partnerships at Pandora, a large part of my job is working with artists to coordinate live concerts and special events in an effort to fulfill Pandora’s central mission of connecting artists with their fans. Pandora has been successfully doing this online for years, so it’s exciting to bring the experience to life offline.

I’m thrilled to share that this Saturday, Hollywood Records recording artist and actress, Bridgit Mendler, will be the latest to headline Pandora Presents, our live, personalized concert series. The performance is taking place at The Americana at Brand in Los Angeles, hosted by recording artist Asher Monroe with an additional performance by Jake Miller. The show is open to all Bridgit Mendler fans and free of charge, thanks to our strategic partnership with General Mills BFAST, Debrox and Trolli. Read More →

It was 1983; I was in seventh grade, a year equally filled with excitement and fear. It was the year that I left my left my Bay Area private school for public school, leaving a sheltered bubble behind for a school with scary looking longhaired kids in denim jackets, Mötley Crüe and Iron Maiden patches. It was the year that I would attend my first ever school dance.

Have you ever had an old song transport you back in time to the moment when it soundtracked an important part of your life? Pandora’s Class Of 1983 station not only reminded me how much awesome music was born 30 years ago – everything from Madonna’s eponymous debut to Slayer’s first album Show No Mercy – but a lot of these songs pulled me right back to the year I became a teenager.